


An Apocalypse Avoided

by titC



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Post-Season/Series 01, Wings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-05
Updated: 2016-06-05
Packaged: 2018-07-12 12:15:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7102990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/titC/pseuds/titC
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Forever happy endings aren't easy to get when you're the devil, but with a little help from your friends...</p>
            </blockquote>





	An Apocalypse Avoided

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, I haven't written anything in a long time, and I haven't finished anything in an even longer time. For some reason, I've spend today typing this out; and lo and behold, it's not even slash.  
> There are probably somewhat sad bits, but also a bit of hurt/comfort, and I can't abide sad endings because they make me depressed for days.  
> Still, I hope you'll smile here and there, and feel good when you're finished reading it.  
> Just so you know what to expect ;-)  
> Also, I really suck at titles.  
> EDIT: now with bonus artwork by the multilatented [Antarctic Echoes](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Antarctic_Echoes) in the end notes!

Had she been on her own, she might have tried to drink herself to sleep. Or maybe sleeping pills – she didn't think drunk-running to Lux would be a good idea. Not that it had been a good idea the first time around, but now... now.

She wasn't sure she could face him again that soon. Too many questions, too many memories were floating up on the surface of her thoughts.

But Trixie needed her, and Chloe was selfishly glad to have something to do. Well, glad – she wished she didn't have to comfort her baby girl; she wished Trixie had not been kidnapped and terrified; she wished Dan was not, well, Dan; and she wished Trixie had not heard all of this clusterfuck – and Lucifer dying. She shouldn't have had to hear _anyone_ dying. Well, there was Malcolm too but – well. Maybe she would think it was like a fairytale, the bad guy being punished and all all that?

Yeah, fat chance.

She stirred the chocolate one last time and brought it and the biscuits Trixie loved to her daughter's room.

“Hey monkey, how about we make a pillow fort and have some chocolate and biscuits together?” What do you do when you child is scared of the dark? What do you do when _you_ are scared too?

Tomorrow, she'd take Trixie to a therapist. Tomorrow, she'd schedule an appointment for herself too. Tomorrow, she'd talk to her boss. But tonight, she'd cuddle with her baby girl and promise her that she'll never, ever let her come to harm.

 

The next morning, Chloe drove Trixie to the child therapist that most often worked with the LAPD, was forbidden to set foot at the precinct by her colleagues – “no, not even to grab some paperwork about yesterday!” “How are you? And how's the poor kid?” “oh, you're here? But Jon's just gone to your place to – shhhh!” “Decker, Mr Morningstar's just been by this morning, you don't need to worry about anything, just take a few days off; honestly you've been through too much, there there”... It's the “there, there” from her boss that convinced Chloe to run away from her coworkers. When did she ever say “there, there”? Never, that's when. Time for a strategic retreat.

She still had some free time before picking Trixie up, and decided to pay a visit to the school. Yes, Malcolm had been a colleague and a cop too and it was, she supposed, understandable that the staff had trusted him, but... she felt entitled to some anger.

“I want to have it on record somewhere that no one except for me is authorized to come and get my daughter. Is that clear?” Chloe was really, really trying not to raise her voice, but her composure felt tenuous.

“But surely her father should have a say in this, Ms Decker. I can't” – very, very strenuous.

“Her father will probably not be able to come for a long time. But all right, yes, let's draw some paperwork, I'll sign it, he'll sign it, you'll sign it, just – I want our daughter to be _safe_. I want to be able to trust you. I want...” She sighed. She couldn't promise she'd always be here. Her mother, her usual baby-sitter might come pick her up. Maybe also – “look, I'll give you a list, I'll give you pictures and ID, and I'll always warn the school to say who's coming when I'm not able to, all right? It's – I think it's the best compromise I can think of.” She breathed out, still angry but also so, so exhausted.

“We can certainly work with that. Once again, Ms Decker, we would really like to apologize for what's happened. Please tell Beatrice that her classmates and teachers, that the staff are thinking about her. We...”

Chloe stood up and held out her hand; she was fed up with it all and needed to get away from the school before blowing up.

She felt restless, unmoored – thinking of Trixie, of Lucifer, of Dan... she felt she hadn't processed any of it and she was on a hair-trigger, although she thought it was justifiable regarding the school. _Not_ her baby girl.

 

Almost two weeks later, she still had no news from Lucifer, and Trixie was worrying about him, asking when he'd come over and see her. Well, who was she kidding – Chloe was worried herself too. She hoped he wasn't avoiding her again.

It was frankly terrifying that it felt easier to talk about Lucifer getting shot with Trixie, than to talk to her about Dan going to jail. She felt she couldn't cope with it, but the therapist was helping, at least. She'd told her not to worry, that it was perfectly normal, that she wasn't a bad parent, that Trixie was doing well, that kids were resilient. Hopefully she was right. She'd talked a bit with Linda too, because she really hadn't felt like going to see a therapist herself but decided that a middle ground of coffee with someone she liked and might have good advice was perfect and, frankly, less scary.

 

That evening, she asked Jess, her usual baby-sitter, to come over and drove to Lux. There was a freak storm outside, and on the radio they were talking about how the Pacific ocean had apparently been going crazy for the last few days. She thought it was a good thing Lucifer had given her a parking space under the building, she wouldn't get soaking wet running from her car to the club, at least. There was no sign of Lucifer or even Maze, so she entered the code for the penthouse and rode the elevator to the top floor. Who did he think he was, seemingly dying and coming back to life for her sake and then disappearing? She wanted answers.

Everything was in disarray, it looked as if a small tornado had thrown papers and... gray feathers? Everywhere. Had pigeons got in from the storm through a window? She walked around the penthouse, but no one was there, and all the windows were closed too. She picked some papers, and tried to understand what she was reading. Something about the end of the world? Or the apocalypse? Or... some other papers were covered in strange writing, strange signs that looked more like the demented drawings of delusional goth wannabes drunk on Lovecraft than anything else.

A bible was lying on the floor, and a newspaper was opened on an article about an old, disaffected power plant where strange lights had been seen. Authorities thought teens might have been playing dangerous games there and had planned its demolition. She recognized the plant from the picture, circled in red. She knew the place, it had been a popular movie location back when her mother was acting in sci-fi flicks.

Chloe checked her gun and rode the elevator down, back to the car park.

 

When she arrived near the plant, Maze was there, surrounded by dead... bodies, she guessed. Not human bodies. She was breathing hard, bruised and bloody, clutching knives. “Don't go in there,” she said.

“What's happening, Mazikeen? Where's Lucifer? Where's his brother?”

“Here.” Amenadiel had seemingly just appeared behind her. He look a bit worse for wear too. “We've got a bit of a situation. Don't come in. You all right?” he asked Maze, walking to her.

“Don't you patronize me.” She twirled her knives and glared at him.

They both jumped when Chloe raised her gun and shot a few bullets at something behind them. They walked together to the... things, bleeding or rather oozing something black and oily all over the ground. Amenadiel and Maze stabbed them for good measure.

“ _I_ 'm not entirely useless either. What _are_ those?”

“You don't want to know, believe me. Didn't think bullets could harm them, but... thanks, I guess.” Maze pouted a bit. Amenadiel, horrifyingly, smiled at the bartender. Did he find her... cute? Oh dear. Was Lucifer's brother pining for his scary ninja leather-clad bodyguard friend... thing, whatever their relationship was? Gah.

Chloe gripped her gun a bit harder. “Right. Now, what can we do? Something's happening inside, right?”

“Don't go in there. You're just going to make him vulnerable.”

“What?”

“You're his weakness. He doesn't need you making him weaker. Just stay here.”

“How far is far enough away? Are there going to be other... things?” Chloe tried very hard not to think too deeply on those, and not to look at them. She'd freak out later.

“Boss won't want you in danger, I'd never hear the end of it. Now just – ”

Chloe narrowed her eyes at them and marched to the plant. So they didn't want her near the action, fine. She was a cop, she had a gun, she could shoot from afar. She'd first assess the situation, then try and call – well. Smoke came out of her pocket. Bye bye phone. She wouldn't call for help, then. She'd find a spot high up and try and see what she could do.

 

From the catwalk, Lucifer and a... thing, were so very tiny. There was some sort of a shimmery dome around them, And Amenadiel was just outside it, there on the floor of the plant, circling around it and hitting it, trying to get in. Next to Chloe, her hand immovable on Chloe's bicep, Maze was gritting her teeth. Blood trickled down from her scalp over her face, and at times her appearance flickered and another one, burned and scarred and feral, was briefly visible. Chloe shivered; Maze – whatever Maze was, she was devoted to Lucifer – was not about to let her go anywhere except away from here, but that was the extent of what she was able to do; Maze was probably only still standing because she was too proud and stubborn to do anything else.

Chloe found it hard to believe she made Lucifer vulnerable, but there was no way she was leaving – her gun was still hot in her hand, and that dome might still go down. It must be powered by _some_ thing, after all, and given the way most of the light bulbs shorted out soon after they went in she hoped this might too.

“Luci, stop it – let us in! Don't try to do this alone!” Amenadiel and another guy – “Michael”, Maze said with a sneer – a blond, curly-haired giant with an honest-to-God sword, were yelling but it didn't seem to faze Lucifer or the monster-thing inside the dome. They were staring at each other, unmoving. Chloe could see Lucifer was breathing heavily, even from here; his clothes torn and dirty.

Then, the thing started to speak. It wasn't a language Chloe understood, she wasn't even sure she could hear anything word-like, and yet the meaning was clear in her brain, as if branded there; burning and putting her teeth on edge like nails on a chalkboard. Her gun was shaking.

“I won't go back, you can't bring me back and you know it. Stop this foolishness, and help me. Be _my_ son, and stop pretending you're a silly human. You're not. You're meant for more than this. Come with me. Be at my side.”

Lucifer stood motionless and remained silent, but Chloe's mind was raging. What...? Amenadiel and sword dude had quit trying to get inside and were kneeling and... holding hands? They almost seemed to be praying. Out of the gloom behind them, a dozen other people started appearing; men and women carrying old-fashioned weapons and dressed in various weird styles – bedsheets and steel and Victorian suits.

Meanwhile, silent again, the monster-thing sort of oozed to Lucifer, slowly and steadily. Both were ignoring what was happening outside the dome, but Chloe couldn't. She looked at Maze from the corner of her eye; the bartender, for the first time she'd ever known her, looked paralyzed with what was very probably fear.

A loud noise suddenly echoed in the plant and Maze inhaled sharply; where Lucifer had been just a moment ago stood a red man surrounded by flames – entirely red. There were still bits of his white shirt and black trousers on him, but from what Chloe could see he was red, red everywhere, red like a man burning at a stake and dying in unimaginable amounts of pain. She suddenly remembered his brief reflection in a mirror, some months ago. She had thought she had been imagining things back then, after having heard him insist all day long on his devil-ness. Hah.

He started stalking towards the, well, demon-thing and stuck his hand in the cloud surrounding it and the dome started to fill with black smoke and inhuman shrieks and bolts of reddish light. Chloe was rooted to the spot, Maze's hand still clamped on her arm, and the people downstairs holding hands and apparently... praying?

The screams tapered out and the smoke slowly disappeared, and there was a collective intake of breath all over. What was, presumably, Lucifer was kneeling at the feet of a giant, horned, scaly-winged demon thing with, well, humongous breasts; her hand on his nape and what must be blood around them. “Now you will obey, son of mine. They can't do anything against us if we're together and you know it. Let us punish your father for how he wronged us, shall we?”

Lucifer seemed to be shivering, head bowed and defeated. What was left of his clothes was slowly smoldering away, leaving dark ash all over his red body. Chloe could see, where his scars were, a greenish yellow liquid oozing out and raised flesh all around it. His _wing_ scars. She could not pretend he was just a weird dude with clever tricks anymore. She couldn't pretend she hadn't seen too many unexplainable things around him anymore. It was just too much, and it was too late. She thought of Trixie, who was hopefully safe at home with the babysitter – safe for how long? She thought of her mother, who had been, until now, safe at a convention in New York. Safe didn't mean anything anymore. She started to raise her gun, when a bright, white, pure light sort of exploded from the plant floor.

Lucifer was very much not red anymore. He was slowly standing, forcing the monster to back away, he was – oh, giant white wings appeared on his back, filling the space and glowing. Light seemed to emanate from Lucifer himself, and he raised his right hand, palm out towards the monster. She seemed to be shrinking, smoking even although still struggling to walk towards him, but light pooled in his hand and –

When Chloe came to, it was to Amenadiel's face. There was a sheen to his eyes that scared her.

“How are you feeling?”

“I... fine. Just... what happened? What... just, what?”

Amenadiel moved aside. Maze must have carried her down, she was on the floor of the plant. The dozen strange people who'd appeared were apparently conferring over a pile of smoldering ash, and mumbling things like “our Father” and “Bringer of Light” and “Holy Light”, all the while sneaking glances at – Lucifer. She looked at him. He was swaying on his knees, eyes half-closed, shivering. Maze was holding him up, and she must have been the only reason he was not face-planting. Giant white wings, stained with ash, were drooping down, weakly twitching behind him, and he didn't really seem aware of what was happening around him. He was silent, apart from a hitched breath every few seconds. Clean skin was visible here and there on his face, where dirt and ash had been washed away.

Chloe stood up, a bit wobbly, and walked to him. “Lucifer?” His lips moved a bit, but he didn't react otherwise. Amenadiel and Maze were watching them closely, as if ready to intervene. “They are beautiful.” Chloe reached out slowly, her fingers barely touching the feathers. There was a whimper, and Lucifer's eyes opened suddenly. “Detective?” He focused on her. “What are you doing here? You shouldn't, you, Maze -” He would have fallen down if not for Amenadiel gripping his shoulder. “You did it, Luci. She's fine. We're all fine. You did it.” Lucifer shook his head and wiped a hand over his eyes, silent.

One of the, well, angels probably – were they all Lucifer's siblings? – came and draped a large soft cloth on Lucifer's shoulders. She looked at Amenadiel and Maze and nodded. “We're taking care of what's left.” She lowered herself on one knee and put a hand on Lucifer's neck. “Thank you, Bringer of Light. You always were the bravest of us, brother.”

As she was standing up he raised his head and looked at her. “Half-brother.” She grabbed his head and stared into his eyes: “Brother.”

As she walked away, Lucifer tried to stand up; but he seemed so exhausted he only managed to collapse a bit more under the weight of his wings. Chloe took his hand in hers. “Come, we need to get away from here.”

“You need to hide your wings, Luci. You can't let humans see them, you know that. Well.” He looked at Chloe. “Most humans, at least. You can't defeat evil and then drive everybody insane in Los Angeles, right?” Amenadiel's attempt at a brave, encouraging face wasn't very convincing. Like Chloe, he was mostly staring in awe at the wings.

“I can't. I... don't remember.” He gripped her hand so hard, just like Trixie when she was frightened.

“Yes you do. Come on, remember, winch them in, will them away -”

“Can't we hide them?”

“Maze, they're glowing; people will see them!”

Chloe squeezed his fingers. “Please, Lucifer. We need to leave, and once you're home they can reappear, right?” She looked up at Amenadiel for confirmation.

“Sure. Come on, breathe with me, think them away, come on Luci...” Lucifer seemed to latch on Amenadiel's voice, staring at his brother's mouth, breathing with him and almost breaking Chloe's fingers with his. After a minute or two, the wings had disappeared, Lucifer seemed all but unconscious and Amenadiel scooped him up, cloth and all. He seemed very limp and childlike in his arms. Maze cast a last wary glance at the angels and followed Lucifer, Amenadiel and Chloe out of the plant.

 

It wasn't so very late when they arrived at Lux. Chloe wasn't quite sure what to do – go back home to her daughter? Stay with Lucifer? As she was staring at her broken phone, still wondering, Maze motioned for the detective to follow her. Intrigued, Chloe walked down the corridor to a door. Maze opened it and Chloe gaped: it was a child's bedroom. It didn't really feel lived-in, but there was kid-sized furniture, stuffed animals on the bed and some of the posters on the wall were the same as in Trixie's room at home. She stared at it all, then at Maze.

“The boss always hoped you'd say yes, and didn't want your daughter to be an issue, so.” Maze shrugged. “I can go get her, if you'd like.”

“No way you're going anywhere near Trixie and the babysitter all covered in ash and blood. I'm calling Jess to bring her right here.” She got her phone out. “Well. Do you have a phone?”

Once Maze had left her in what looked like an office, she dialed her home. “Hey Jess, it's Chloe. Everything fine? How's Trix? I've got a favor to ask...”

 

An hour later, Jess was here with Trixie and a bag of clothes for both of them. The babysitter had gaped at the penthouse, her eyes bugging out at a Maze fresh out of the shower, and Chloe was pretty sure phone numbers had been quickly exchanged while Amenadiel was glaring at them. Food had been ordered, Amenadiel had gotten all the papers strewn on the floor in the bin and Lucifer was still mostly dead to the world on the sofa. Chloe had managed to get Trixie to her room without letting her see Lucifer, and had put her to bed after much squeeing at the room with the promise of having all the time on the world to enjoy it _tomorrow for god's sake just go to sleep now._

“Baby-sitter's hot”, Maze said when she got back from Trixie's room. “Looks like a fighter, too.” She was mixing herself a drink at Lucifer's bar.

“Yeah, she's also a gym trainer. Teaches krav maga to cops. Looking to save money to go back and finish her studies. Dan knew her from the police gym, and we felt better knowing that Trix was with someone who could fight and could deal with the cop thing.”

“The cop thing?” Amenadiel asked.

“Yeah, we were afraid she might be targeted, kidnapped or something because of our job.” She sighed. “Anyway. When is the food supposed to be here?”

“'bout half an hour. Bathroom's yours if you want it. Do you want me to drop him in the bathtub?” Maze gestured at Lucifer.

“'m perfectly able to get there mesef”, Lucifer mumbled, twitched, promptly got tangled in the blanket they'd thrown over him and fell on the floor.

“Yep, totally.” Maze grinned at her – a grin with a lot of teeth. “C'mon, you can wash his back.” The teeth said that she'd better take care of him or else.

 

Once Lucifer was almost drowning in the huge bath – huge enough for even Lucifer to stretch out comfortably in it – but not quite, Chloe poked at the shower to try and get a plain shower. There were so many buttons she wondered if it actually did the normal shower thing.

“Detective”, he said. His voice was still raspy, rough and painful-sounding. She turned around to look at him. “Detective, why don't you get in there with me? Hmm?”

“Are you seriously going to try and pretend you're fit for anything right now?” She frowned, fists on her hips. “And are we honestly going to pretend nothing happened? Do you really, actually think I'll go with it, _Lucifer Morningstar_?”

He looked away. “So now you believe me, at last.”

“Hard not to, honestly. I still have many questions, but I guess they can wait until you look a bit less like you're about to faint.” She rolled her sleeves up. “Turn around, I'll help you wash.”

He didn't move. “Aren't you afraid of what I'll do to you? Of what the devil can do?” He clearly was too exhausted to achieve anything halfway like his usual arrogance and bravado, really. Chloe tried not to smile too overtly.

“You don't look like you can do much right now. Come here, I'm very good at washing hair without getting soap into your eyes.”

He finally moved a bit forward, and she grabbed what looked like a bottle of shampoo.

“How is your little human?”

“Thrilled at her room. That's one of the many things we're going to have a talk about, by the way. Now close your eyes.” He didn't, of course, the contrary bastard. “What?”

“You want to talk about _furniture_?” He blinked. “What about...” He jerked and turned to face her fully, sloshing water all over the floor and Chloe. “You saw me, you saw what I really look like, what I did, what my mother is – was, I never wanted you to, I – ” his voice, already gravelly, broke into a whisper.

“Oh, you're just like Trixie when she's overtired. Now, you've splashed water everywhere, I'm soaked through – ” she glared at him when he tried to raise an eyebrow, managing only a twitch – “and, okay, you win. Budge over.”

She undressed as quickly as she could with wet clothes sticking to her skin, and slipped in behind him. “Now just shut your eyes _and_ your mouth, and let me help.” She ran her hands slowly, up and down and up again, over the pristine skin of his back. He shivered at her touch, head hanging over his drawn-up knees.

“I've lost my wings again,” he whispered. “I can't manifest them back.” His voice sounded so small. “He took them back.”

“Your scars have disappeared, though. Maybe you're just too tired.” She bent forward and kissed his nape. He made her feel oddly motherly in that moment. A big, lost boy hugging his knees in the bath, wishing for his father's approval. A big, lost boy who'd just killed his mother, sure, but she had apparently been some sort of horrible monster demon. So there was that.

“He also sent your siblings to try to help you.” She started massaging shampoo in his hair, taking her time and every opportunity to touch him softly, dropping a kiss on his shoulder, his hair, his torn knuckles. She took her time, and he kept silent, breathing shakily.

 

They got out of the bathroom wrapped in fluffy towels and a giant cloud of steam. Lucifer was vaguely vertical, leaning against the doorjamb and trying and failing to look coolly casual instead of about to drop. Maze appeared out of nowhere – well, probably the lounge although Trixie's door was open at the end of the corridor, but Chloe tried not to dwell too much on how many hours of sleep Trixie was or wasn't getting tonight.

“Food, or bed?”

“Clothes first, I guess,” Chloe answered.

Together, they dragged Lucifer to his bedroom and dropped him on the bed. Maze snickered at seeing Lucifer blinking owlishly at the sweat pants she was dangling in front of him. “Put these on or you'll scare the kid.” She turned to Chloe. “Your things are in there.” She waved at a wardrobe.

“My... things? Here?”

“Well, you're sleeping with him tonight, right? You're not going to bail out now, are you?” She did the teeth thing again.

“I... guess so?”

“Good. Now move it before Amenadiel eats all the food.” She left them, and soon they could hear girly giggles coming from the left.

“Beatrice has my demon wrapped around her little finger.”

“Yeah, she often has that effect on people. Even fearsome denizens of Hell, apparently.”

They had just put on some soft, comfy clothes when the door opened and a tiny cannonball ran into the room and jumped on the bed.

“Mommy! Lucifer! Maze said I could have pizza and ice-cream with you! Can I can I can I can I can I please please please pleaaase?” She hugged Chloe, then almost strangled Lucifer with the force of her hug. For once, he didn't even flinch. “Are you together now? Are you kissing and doing grownup things? Can I get more presents now for Christmas and my birthday? Can you drive me to school in your cool car?”

“Hey monkey, calm down. Fine, you can have some ice-cream with us, but then,” she glared briefly at Maze who looked serenely back, “you're going straight to bed and sleeping for real this time, okay? It's late, baby. Now come, just one scoop, all right?”

 

Amenadiel had apparently gone all proper butler on them; he's finished cleaning the lounge, arranged the mountains of food on the low table, he'd got cutlery and chopsticks and plates and paper napkins out, and had even unearthed a pizza cutter.

He and Lucifer looked at each other for a long time while Chloe sat Trixie down and Maze scooped some ice-cream in a bowl. “So you're carrying light again, brother.”

Lucifer walked around to the bar to grab a drink. “It's over. Let's just... not, all right?”

“ _Lucifer_.”

“ _Amenadiel_. Leave it. I need a drink. Maze, where – ” Amenadiel grabbed his shoulders, turned him around and marched him to the sofa.

“Okay, you want to ignore it, fine – for tonight. Now sit, eat, sleep, and we'll talk tomorrow.” He slid a glass towards him. “Let's hope you won't fall asleep and choke on your rice.”

 

Clearly, divine beings were hungry beings. As Chloe brushed her teeth, she marveled at the quantity of food they'd all devoured. Trixie had looked almost jealous, but Maze had promised her an ice-cream expedition after school tomorrow, and had finally got her to sleep, to Chloe's utter surprise. She'd then disappeared with Amenadiel, after some more tooth-showing on her part and a stern look from Amenadiel.

When she got back to the dark bedroom, Lucifer was still awake, his eyes half-closed but tracking her. He raised a hand from his chest and she took it, sitting next to him on the bed.

“I thought you'd be sleeping already.”

“Well, if you're going to sleep here with me, I want to be awake to see it. To see you.”

“I'm not going anywhere. I'll still be here in the morning.”

“Will you?”

“I promise. I'll call the precinct.” She kissed his palm, big and warm. “My partner just saved the world, I guess I can get a day off to pamper him, right?”

“Detective...”

“I know you know my name.”

She poked and prodded him to make him scoot over, and lay down next to him. After a while, he sighed and curled a bit towards her, and she curled a bit towards him, and they ended up falling asleep holding hands and smiling at each other in the dark.

 

Sunlight woke her up the next day, pouring in from the huge, open windows. It seemed like the freak days-long storm was over. Hah. Not so much a freak storm, she thought. Or maybe very much a freak storm. She stretched and realized that it wasn't only the bright morning that had woken her up. She stopped by the bathroom on her way to the very enticing smells from the kitchen.

Lucifer was there, still looking a bit tired, still looking a bit unsure. He didn't raise his eyes from the pan when she came in, although he turned a bit towards her. “Maze took Beatrice to school this morning. I called the precinct for you.” He seemed to be avoiding her eyes.

“Lucifer. Lucifer, look at me.” When he finally looked up from the pancakes, she rose on her toes and kissed his cheek. “Thank you. For everything.”

“Thank _you_ , my dear Detective. Maze told me you dispatched some demons yourself.” He slid the pancake on the pile and turned the gas off. “You should never have been here, though. It was too dangerous, even for you. You're strong and pure, but you're still human. Demons...”

“Yeah, I'm thinking on buying some silver bullets too. I mean, you never know.” She poured some coffee from the pot. “I'm a good shot. Could get a side career kicking demon ass with my devil partner, you know. Besides, I trust Maze with my daughter, right? She's definitely not human either.”

He gave her a quick smile. “Detective, I – ” at her glare, he started again. “Chloe. If you hadn't been there, I don't think I'd still be... here.”

“What do you mean?”

He sighed. “I think I'd have just died and gone back to Hell, after... after. You... grounded me?”

“I thought you didn't want to go back there.”

“I don't. But look what almost happened, with me here. I should be there. I _am_ the King of Hell. I _am_ Satan.”

He looked up from his coffee just in time to see Chloe throwing her arms around his neck. “But I like you here, and not the least because you cook breakfast. Let's enjoy it first, all right?”

 

Much, much later, Chloe would remember fondly the first time he kissed her, tentative and unlike his usual self. He'd been sweet, that very first time; letting her lead and looking at her as if she was the only thing in the world for him, the most precious and pure. Maybe she was. She would remember the way he'd cried on her shoulder when his wings suddenly appeared, white feathers everywhere in the bedroom, and he'd laughed too. She'd cried and laughed with him.

She would remember fondly, also, all the insane antics they did together; driving along the ocean; having wild sex where no human beings should (goats maybe, but not human beings); fighting; watching Trixie grow up under their, Maze's and Lucifer's watchful eye; teaching her how to play the piano; helping Dan find a new job after he got out of prison; getting drunk with Linda and telling her about crazy make-up sex with Lucifer, giggling like schoolgirls.

She went back to work, and she got a new partner. Lucifer sometimes accompanied her again but more often than not he was working – his Earth business, or Hell business. He never talked about it, and she didn't ask, just knew he could come and go as he pleased now. Sometimes one of his siblings would appear, and Maze would glare at them, and more often than not when they were gone he would again make love to her as if he'd never see her again, hiding them from the rest of the world behind a feather curtain.

 

One day, when Lucifer was away, Amenadiel came to talk to her. He told her what his brothers and sisters were telling Lucifer that unsettled him so – that she was mortal, that she'd die. That she'd go to Heaven and forever away from him, that they were afraid of his reaction, that he should be prepared for that. That he always refused to hear them.

“I've thought about it too, but what can be done? Do I have to go to Heaven? I mean, I'm in a relationship with the devil. _Should_ I go to Heaven? It still all seems a bit... unreal. Ridiculous, almost.” The corners of her eyes crinkled a bit, thinking about it all. Sleeping with the devil – the idea never got old.

“I think our father is worried too, to be honest, but Lucifer still refuses to talk with him. So I'm to mark you and your daughter, so that you will be free to move between planes after your death. Can I have your hand, please? I promise it won't hurt.”

He wrapped her hand in his big ones, and she felt warmth spreading all over her body. When he released her, she saw a bit of light fading into her paper-thin skin.

She looked up. “Amenadiel. If you're here, does this mean my time is near?”

He smiled sadly. “Tell Lucifer our father would like to talk to him, will you? I should go. Goodbye, Chloe.”

When Lucifer got back the next day, he took one look at her and simply said, “oh”. A very small, very quiet, very pained “oh”.

They went outside, on the balcony overlooking the city, and spent the night there. They lay quietly on the old sofa they had dragged out here years ago, his head in her lap, looking up at her like she was his own sun, clasping her hand on his chest while she stroked his cheek. When she got too tired, he rearranged them, her head on his shoulder while he played with her fine hair. They never spoke, but she could feel his hitched breaths under her cheek.

Maze found them in the morning, him with his cheeks wet, her very cold in his arms.

Maze, a very undemonic glow about her, gave him a key.

“Your father had Peter make a copy for you”, she said.

**Author's Note:**

> The lovely Antarctic Echoes made a gorgeous watercolor to go with this fic: like & reblog [here](http://antarctic-echoes.tumblr.com/post/1659829921423)!
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